I think that commercial was done by Republicons trying to look PC and ending up hitting the utterly wrong note, as per usual. Joking aside, I’m sure some (white) ad exec thought that would be the perfect way to explain that a black toothpaste shouldn’t be looked down on, but when you use racial strife to sell products, that’s crossing a line too far. Talk about cheapening the struggle for equality…

Racist? I dunno. It is unclear to me why the mother had any problem with a guy bringing her child’s balloon to her. The toothpaste thing?

A memory. When I was overseas, in southeast Asia, there as a brand of toothpaste called “Darkie,” which had a sort of minstrel-show black man with top hat illustration showing huge white teeth. I kept a tube for years, but it finally disappeared.
Racist? Well, it certainly played on a caricature.

I guess this particular toothpaste seller is having a hard time getting people to smear turd-colored stuff on their teeth.